Haier US Appliance Solutions, Inc.

Other

Andrew Leroy Reder

Paul Goodjohn

John Kenneth Hooker

Timothy Dale Worthington

Jonathan D Nelson

Eric Kent Watson

Craig Iung-Pei Tsai

Jeffrey Alan Kern

Timothy David Kaiser

Davide Jonathan Leone

Craig Lung-Pei Tsai

Sajeev Lathika Ranasinghe

Arti Arvindbhai Shah

Jennifer Amy Floyd

Almir Begovich

Irena Jozic Mcdowell

A method for operating a consumer appliance, as provided herein, may include detecting a preliminary first conversion value from a first sensor input pin electrically connected to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and detecting a preliminary second conversion value from a second sensor input pin electrically connected to the ADC in electrical parallel with the first sensor input pin. The method may further include determining a preliminary variation between the preliminary first and second conversion values is less than or equal to a predetermined preliminary threshold. The method may still further include activating a pull-up resistor in electrical communication with the first sensor input pin, identifying a fault state in response based on a conversion value variation following activating the pull-up resistor, and directing the appliance based on the determined fault state.

Methods for detecting sensor faults in a consumer appliance

A water heater appliance includes a cold water conduit and a hot water conduit. The water heater appliance also includes a mixing valve and a controller. The controller may be configured for and/or methods of operating the water heater appliance may include detecting a start of a flow event from the water heater appliance and detecting a water temperature in the mixed water conduit of the water heater that is outside of tolerance limits after detecting the start of the flow event. The controller may be further configured for and/or the method may further include verifying that the flow event has not ended after detecting the water temperature in the mixed water conduit is outside of the tolerance limits. After verifying that the flow event has not ended, a count is added to a fault counter.

Water heater mixing valve fault detection

An appliance, as provided herein, may include a cabinet, a control board, an intermediate dongle, and an electrical feature. The control board may be mounted within the cabinet to selectively direct one or more operation of the appliance. The intermediate dongle may be spaced apart from the control board within the cabinet. The intermediate dongle may include a connector body and a memory device housed within the connector body. The intermediate dongle may be in electrical communication with the control board. The electrical feature may be connected to the intermediate dongle within the cabinet of the appliance. The electrical feature may be in electrical communication with the control board through the intermediate dongle.

Appliances and methods for off-board data storage

Systems and methods of detecting current leakage in a heating element are provided. An alternating current signal can be applied to the heating element. The heating element can have an associated line relay and an associated neutral relay coupled to a line terminal of the heating element and a neutral terminal of the heating element, respectively. A control system can be configured to control a sequence of operations of the line and neutral relays such that the magnitude of a leakage current flowing through the heating element to ground is increased. Such increased magnitude can facilitate detection of the leakage current. The detected leakage current can be compared with a leakage threshold. The control system can cease the operation of the heating element if the leakage current is greater than the leakage threshold.

Detecting current leakage in a heating element

Appliances that include a ground fault door latch trip circuit that leverages a door latch circuit of the appliance to open one or more component relays upon detection of a current leakage event are provided. In particular, the ground fault door latch trip circuit can provide one or more shunt paths when a ground fault event is detected. The shunt paths can shunt current from a door latch to ground, such that the door latch circuit operates as if the door of the appliance has been opened.

Door latch interruption upon detection of current leakage

A first and second pair of door stop elements are mounted to an existing door hinge and aligned with the barrels on the door hinge. A pair of barrels have to be cutaway to mount the stops. The hinge pin holds everything in position. One of the pair of door stops is shaped like a metal bar with a pair of knuckles at the top and the bottom. It also has curves, indentations, flat contact points and grooves. The back of the first stop is recessed to provide clearance to avoid the hinge barrels against which the stop is positioned after installation. The flat contact points abut against the faces of the pair of door hinges to prevent the door from opening beyond a fixed point. The fist stop is used alone when the door opens up to 180 degrees. The second stop works with the first stop element and is used to limit the door opening to much less than 180 degrees. The second element is described as an elongated U-shaped bracket. The first element fits inside the second element. Both elements pivot freely about the hinge pin. The second element has a pair of screws to adjust and limit the opening angle of the door. Variants of the invention are elongated versions of the first and second stop elements. The variants fit at the top and bottom of a conventional door hinge. An elongated hinge pin and a nut are necessary to mount the elongated version to the pair of door hinges.

Hinge mounted adjustable door stop

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Louisville, KY, United States of America

Andrew Leroy Reder